Ben Barker has criticised the balance of performance in the GTE Am class at the Le Mans 24 Hours after he and the Gulf Racing team had to settle for 10th in class at this year’s legendary race.

The Cambridge driver played a leading role for the team in their #86 Porsche 911 RSR, but he blamed technical regulations, designed to make the racing between the different brands of GT cars as competitive as possible, for their lack of competitiveness,

Just as they did last year, Barker and the Gulf Racing outfit enjoyed a trouble-free run at La Sarthe, underlining the good work they had done since the second round of this year’s World Endurance Championship in Spa.

But their hopes of battling for a podium place were dashed when balance of performance changes put every Porsche runner of the back foot compared to the Aston Martins, Ferraris and Corvettes.

“Changes to the Balance of Performance for this round really worked against the Porsche,” said Barker.

“While our ultimate top speed might not have compared too badly with the opposition, the way we got there was very different, with the Astons and Ferraris able to pull five to six lengths on us, especially exiting the corners, and leaving us almost five seconds a lap off their pace. If the changes were meant to balance the field, then it’s a joke as we were never able to compete on their level.”

Barker spent a total of 10 hours behind the wheel of the Porsche, completing vital stints through the night before bringing the car home to the chequered flag after 328 gruelling laps, most of which were run in searing temperatures.

Co-drivers Nick Foster and Mike Wainwright also impressed in their stints but the 10th place in class, 39th overall out of 60 starters, felt like a disappointing return for all of the team’s efforts.

“I can’t fault the effort that the entire team put in across the week, especially the guys in the garage looking for ways to make us as competitive as possible,” continued Barker.

“They worked tirelessly through qualifying and between sessions, so to go on and have a car that ran without a hitch in the race itself – and to receive quality pit-stops as we did – is a fantastic achievement for what is probably the smallest team on the grid.

“It’s just a shame that the regulations prevented us from getting the sort of result that that effort deserved, especially as they also masked the continual improvement Nick and Mike have made behind the wheel – both drove great stints when it would have been easy to make mistakes in tough conditions.”

Barker and the team will be back in WEC action next month when the Six Hours of the Nurburgring takes place on the weekend of July 14-16.